from the use-in-commerce? dept

It should be no surprise that various malicious typo squatters have targeted The Pirate Bay with fake sites that try to install malware, however Torrentfreak looked a bit deeper and found that one of the typo squatters, a company called BladeBook, appears to be trying to trademark the actual name, as well. Apparently, BladeBook's Craig Pratka first filed for the trademark the same day that it was announced that The Pirate Bay had been sold to GGF, a deal that eventually fell apart (as did the initial trademark application).

However, the guy appears to have refiled a trademark application on "Pirate Bay" and "Pirates Bay" earlier this year, describing the business as:

Provision of telecommunications access and links to computer databases, computer networks and the Internet, namely, providing users online access via a website to third party websites featuring downloadable audio-visual media content in the nature of full-length, partial-length, and clips from motion pictures, television programming, sports events, videos, music videos, music, and interactive games. FIRST USE: 20020611. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20070111

This isn't the first time this has happened of course. Last year we wrote about someone else trying to trademark the logo. And while some who don't understand trademark law think that this is "fair game," considering the amount of unauthorized file sharing facilitated by The Pirate Bay, that misses the point. The folks behind The Pirate Bay have never had any problem with people using their logo or name or anything. What they do have a problem with is someone trying to lock it up so that others can't use it. That seems entirely consistent. Also, since trademarks are an entirely different type of law from copyrights, the comparison doesn't fully work either, since trademarks are supposed to be about preventing consumer confusion.